Enjoy this profoundly Christian play in historical context, exploring the story’s themes of love and betrayal, good and evil, nihilism and meaning, and more. For high school students.
How to get the most out of Shakespeare and King Lear with Kevin O’Brien:
- Watch each Recorded class session.
- Complete all quizzes and assignments. Parents can grade any essay questions, or they may purchase Instructor Access for Kevin O'Brien to grade the essay questions.
- The reading for each week can be found in that week's module.
- Repeat for each until course is completed.
- Once the course is completed to the parent's satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records. Homeschool Connections does not provide record keeping.
Total Classes: 6
Duration: 55 Minutes
Prerequisite: None.
Suggested Grade Level: 9th through 12th grade.
Suggested Credit: 1/2 semester Shakespearian Literature or English. For a full semester add another course.
Instructor: Kevin O’Brien
Instructor email: kevin@classeswithkevin.
Course Description: King Lear is Shakespeare’s tragic masterpiece. While the plot involves a king of England who reigned before the time of Christ, the play is profoundly Christian. The themes in the story include love and betrayal; good and evil; nihilism and meaning. We will also look at how the play refers to the Catholic England of the Middle Ages as well as the Protestant England of the Renaissance -- and prophetically anticipates the post-modern England of the present.
Course Outline:
-
Introduction
-
Act One
-
Act Two
-
Act Three
-
Act Four
-
Act Five and Conclusion
Course Materials: King Lear, any notated edition. No Fear Shakespeare is a good online resource for the text and a helpful side-by-side modern paraphrase.
Homework: A close reading of each Act will probably take about an hour per week. Also, plan on occasional quizzes and a final essay.
- Teacher: Kevin OBrien